Unopened pirate hauls stuffed with Southern Comforts
Parseword needs a mode harder than Challenge Mode, where YOU still have to type in the substitution or anagram, and it just confirms if it's valid. Anyway, enjoy this inTOXICating loot!
Parseword #135
⚡️ 39s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Police leader acquiring right sort of instrument
I sort of enjoy [Police leader] here, even as that reference gets dated. But the surface itself is bad. I'm not saying you have to go ACAB, but what sort of euphemism does [instrument] imply here?
Parseword #134
⏱️ 1m2s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Swift in superfan shirt
@jessshulman.bsky.social had me for a literal minute with this surface: don't make the same mistake I always make: remember that words are sometimes JUST words, and not always an indicator of something else. Cute clue!
Parseword #133
⏱️ 1m18s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Graduates at the front have commencement wear
[Graduates at the front] just sounds really weird. Like, at the front of the class? At the front of the graduation ceremony? (As opposed to all others, or anywhere else?) Not worth it IMO.
Parseword #132
⚡️ 16s
💎 Perfect
👶 Secret Found
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Guard unopened door
Short and sweet. Where would you need a guard? Probably by a door, unopened or otherwise. Figure out what [unopened] is doing and you can probably crack how you're getting to the answer.
Parseword #131
⚡️ 8s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Sent one back to pick up university application
Great surface that neatly hides [application], and yeah, I'll agree what makes a clue "hard" especially in Parseword is when you have tons of options. I had the right parse with so many wrong words.
Parseword #130
⏱️ 3m44s
✅ 4 Assists
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Sheep covered with dirt from Portland, ME, to Toronto?
Painfully tough. Having only ever heard of Portland, OR, I was convinced the ME was wordplay, and even when I narrowed down the definition, geography just ain't my bag. Why's there a ? here?
Parseword #129
⏱️ 2m48s
✅ 1 Assist
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
City annoyed at middle of Arsenal game
This one's hard, especially in "challenge" mode where you don't have the enumeration to narrow things down. [City] being so open-ended doesn't help either, though at least [middle of Arsenal]'s pretty clear.
Parseword #128
⏱️ 2m46s
✅ 3 Assists
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Convinced yours truly to leave firm
I was pretty sure about how this one worked, but wasn't thinking of the right word from which to delete. It's a [REDACTED] clue!
Parseword #127
⚡️ 39s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Cannot stand swearword appearing in The Parisian?
Wonderful! This complete story of a sentence gives me all the details on a person who hates seeing curses in print, and then the wordplay offers a few surprises in the French and use of [swearword].
Parseword #126
⚡️ 14s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Song in church that guy heard
Most teach math with lots of drilling, so you get the fundamentals in you. No wonder so many hate math!
By contrast, Louis Sachar's "Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School" taught with stories.
Cryptics should be fun!
Parseword #125
⚡️ 12s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Arrived with large and small animals
A straightforward start to the week. This is what I call a "foothold" clue: all the obvious things pan out. You're indeed looking for [animals], [Arrived], [large], and [small] do exactly as you think.
Parseword #124
⚡️ 12s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Vintner's stock splits after leader goes from failing to average
Hard to input into PW; doesn't help that it looked like you might've made WINE into FINE for [average]. Surface was a bit strange; what does the leader do in a non-cryptic sense?
Parseword #123
⏱️ 1m33s
⭐️ No Assists
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
An element of terrorism following port city disturbance
Right ideas, but a few iffy parts. Surface-wise, wouldn't the terrorism *lead* to the disturbance, instead of follow it? And [element of terrorism] seems to vague to indicate a first letter.
Parseword #122
⚡️ 17s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Two leaders leave church compound on the beach
Very difficult; wasn't expecting to need a synonym, especially that one. I sort of like the use of [church compound], but my picky arbitrary-o-meter is out in full force for the rest.
Parseword #121
⏱️ 2m18s
✅ 1 Assist
🏖️ Secret Found
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Risk cuddling jerk in bed
This clue's construction remains my kryptonite: a word containing TWO words, one of which is given. Even knowing the synonyms and where the definition would be, I kept whiffing. The surface is nice, by the way.
Parseword #120
⏱️ 4m13s
✅ 3 Assists
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
50% off sambar, first-cut dosas, fried appetizers
Steve's the person who got me thinking about the culinary possibilities of cryptics, and while I like the consistency of the referenced region, I wish the surface were more than a menu.
Parseword #119
⚡️ 12s
💎 Perfect
😋 Secret Found
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Game system found in seven in ten dorms
I like the statistical concept, and it's probably accurate, but I have a really high bar for hiddens, and this doesn't clear it. The phrase "seven in ten dorms" sounds like it's awkwardly hiding something.
Parseword #118
⚡️ 28s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Granted, around the first of May, I was in the driver’s seat
Tough wordplay, and I don't know the surface was worth it. The whole first part doesn't really connect to the second. It's grammatically correct, but without the context of, say, an alibi.
Parseword #116
⏱️ 1m9s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Online security measure put a limit on uncontrolled chat
Fabulous surface. Bit of an interface issue since I didn't realize the [on] had to be included (it could also be a connector), but this is my kind of clue: modern, descriptive.
Parseword #115
⚡️ 24s
💎 Perfect
😃 Secret Found
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Court accepts request by fifth character in witness box
I really like the use of [witness box] here; that's how natural cryptics should sound. It pairs well with [court], and only [character] feels slightly off (but is totally fine).
Parseword #114
⏱️ 1m8s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Clothing with a fancy border
I think I mentioned with #111 that my favorite types of surfaces tend to have verbs (so they're not just descriptions of a thing), but this is pretty good; you just have to remember how to treat [with] to get a foothold.
Parseword #113
⚡️ 37s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Unopened cereal drops from the sky
Stick this one in my "absurd, but I like it" pile. There is a clear story here, and yeah, it's a bit arbitrary in that it could be ANYTHING that drops, but the visual of the choice here makes me chuckle.
Parseword #112
⚡️ 10s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Flood brought about change
Here's where being a contrarian pays off: when I say I like something, I hope you really trust it. This is a great clue. Floods *do* bring about change. Taken another way, they also result in the answer to this clue!
Parseword #111
⚡️ 11s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Elaborate former flat
I'm assuming this is some sort of ornate architectural reference? Not entirely sure what a "former flat" is. That said, the wordplay itself is fine, even if I took a beat to wonder why PRESS wasn't an option for [flat].
Parseword #110
⚡️ 14s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Decide to accept one cancellation of "Thor," say?
Once again, I am undone by "obvious" wordplay and a tricky definition. The surface is a bit odd--I guess there's a cinema that can choose to honor cancellations?--but I don't mind.
Parseword #109
⏱️ 2m23s
💎 Perfect
😜 Secret Found
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Something that smells oddly terrible after passing gas
This is a wonderful clue; my only hesitation is that [passing gas] plays *really* hard and probably warrants a question mark (unless it's just a standard chemistry thing that I don't know).
Parseword #108
⚡️ 28s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Is unable to find the Spanish test center
Perfectly fine. I really like [test center], which sounds so natural. [the Spanish] is fine, but does stick out as a substitution--and not just because it's in the middle, and so almost certainly wordplay.
Parseword #107
⚡️ 36s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Dorks send novel about leader of Romulans
This is the kind of specificity I'm looking for: what is something a "dork" might write about? Star Trek, sure! I don't love "send" (leaves me wondering "to whom"?) but I get it. That said, very obvious.
Parseword #106
⚡️ 15s
💎 Perfect
🗿 Challenge Mode
Aaron Riccio
Choir member in recital tomorrow
It's boring, sorry. [In] is the dullest of indicators, the surface is bland, and this could just as easily have been [Choir member in recital today]. What's the point?
Parseword #105
⚡️ 9s
💎 Perfect
😰 Secret Found
🗿 Challenge Mode
